Elements
by Smidgie
Summary: On their last dinner together... AH, little bit of sensitive content, not much. Please read and review.


Artemis Fowl and his band of merry men are owned by Eoin Colfer and Eoin Colfer's lawyer lackeys. Contact them if you're pissed.

This is A/H in many shapes and forms. It contains AU versions of Holly and Artemis.

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30angsts

29. Fire; Water; Earth; Metal; Wood (one last dinner)

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She was Fire, a blaze of anger so tangible sometimes he felt he could almost touch it, especially when he angered her, an all too common thing, it seemed, these days.

He was Water, but not gentle, sweet water like Trouble; ice water rushing through the caverns of her heart, because he'd been burnt by the wrong kind of fire – _Juliet_ – and he kept himself cold to quench it in case it ever came to burn him again.

She was Earth; after so much time under it, it was a part of her nature, but a clash with the fire in her. She was dependable, and cracked but never broke in the heat of his fury, and never complained when he stamped upon her with steel-toed boots.

He was Air; the cold ionosphere; the nothingness vacuum of space. When he was a child, he'd wanted to go into space, to see whether nothingness was kinder on the mortal soul than the absence of emotion. It was a long time before that lack of emotion became not his curse, but his refuge.

She was Wood, ancient building block, an entity created out of the destruction of another. She was his cross; his manger; his boat through which he walked on water. She was his downfall; the force that helped shape him; his inspiration to perform miracles. And yet, to him she only symbolized the first, and so he treated her as such. He blamed her because he lived, he blamed her because he couldn't die, he blamed her because her heart refused to break and give him the power he craved.

He was Metal; all unforgiving sharp edges that sliced you open when you dared to get too close. But Wood has immunity to that; even when he rent her in two she nailed herself back together and went on with eroding the sharpness from him. Eventually, though, they both knew that one day even the world's supply of nails wouldn't heal her, and he'd need to melt down part of himself to save her. She liked to think he would. He hoped he'd never have to try.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

On their last dinner together, when he shoved the divorce papers across the table, Fire threw her filet mignon into his lap and punched him before walking out and finding a faceless stranger and alcohol to ease her sorrow.

On their last dinner together, as she told him of her affair, Water pressed his lips together tightly to stay the words he wanted to say and froze to pure ice, never to thaw.

On their last dinner together, when the shares in the company fell as low as her heart, Earth bore the weight of his blows and wondered when he had changed, before the world went black.

On their last dinner together, Air hid behind a polite smile and said he was happy for her as she cradled another man's child in her arms and heartache sizzled through his veins. That night the needle kissed away all the burning rage as calm flowed through his system and he managed to sleep, soaring to the ionosphere as his life drifted away.

On their last dinner together, amidst a blur of too much wine and nut-brown skin, he hurt Wood one too many times, and she left as he slurred, face down in his own vomit, and didn't feel regret when the paramedics she'd promised didn't arrive.

On their last dinner together, Metal watched as she wiped hopelessly at the tears that cascaded down her face and put his arm around his new wife. She looked at him with broken eyes – _windows to the soul_ – begging for that part of him to nail her back together, as she knew he would have once. As he walked away and left her crumpled at the restaurant table, he wondered what had changed.

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Thank you for reading, please review, evacuate outside if there's a fire, etc. You know the drill.

Ta ta,

Smidgie


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